Sunday, January 24, 2010

It's Restaurant Week here in Philadelphia. Some of the people in my dorm and I went out for brunch at Square 1682, a new restaurant on 17th street. The Restaurant Week "deal" was two courses: either breakfast or lunch course and a dessert. I use the sarcasm of quotation marks because the only person who saved money on the Restaurant Week offer was the girl who got the steak. So, get the steak or don't get the deal.

I got the Poached Eggs with TruffleOil "atop brioche toast, wild mushrooms, and guanciale sauce." I didn't know what guanciale was, so I have looked it up: Guanciale is bacon from a pigs cheek. Yum. Actually, the dish was really good (especially the bites with all the truffle oil). It was in the plainest of terms, good bread with a poached egg and the typically delicious mushrooms in butter and some herbs, chopped bacon, cream sauce, and parsley. Oh and of course truffle oil. How could one complain?

My dining compatriots enjoyed the French Toast with bananas, pecans, and good old Pennsylvanian maple syrup, the blackened chicken sandwich with bacon, pesto aioli, pepper jack cheese and house-made fingerling potato chips (pictured), and the Texas Longhorn burger with blue cheese. From what I heard, all dishes were highly satisfying. After some sneaking of potato chips, I can personally vouch for their deliciousness.

Next up, dessert. Chocolate tart with ginger and orange ganache. Reportedly very good but very, very chocolatey. Others had apple tart with cinnamon ice cream. Also, said to be sensational, but the ice cream is for cinnamon lovers only. I then had the vanilla ice cream cream puff with caramel and pecans. It was very nice. The caramel was warm, but freezing on the ice cream, and the puff was crispy in just the right places.

Overall, the consensus was that the brunch wasn't bad. However, it was far from sensational. If we had the choice to try somewhere new, we probably would. If you are looking for a solidly vogue and stylish place with food certain to be good with decent presentation, then head on over to Square 1682.

About

Hey! I'm an amateur foodie and student from Philly, currently in Chicago. I've been brought up surrounded by the cooking of Latin America, America, Korea, India, and, most of all, China. Originally this food blog was to help me cope with the reportedly terrible dining hall food at my uni. Since then, I’ve moved to an apartment with a stove, so this blog will expand helping myself and others navigate local restaurants, speedy but delicious foods for the college kid but, of course, also food from the minifridge and microwave. Feel free to contact me at miniandmicro@gmail.com